Carol Percy Health Psychology

Been bogged down in work for the past several weeks but thought I'd revive my blog as an opportunity to showcase the research seminars we're having in Psychology & Behavioural Sciences in the next few months.

Have placed posts about this on our departmental Facebook page, but bears repeating here as well:

Date	Speaker	Affiliation	Title
7^th December	Dr Lorenzo Stafford	University of Portsmouth	Olfaction And Emotion: What More Is There To Know?
14^th December	Prof. Peter Spurgeon	University of Warwick	Management and Leadership Competence: No Longer An Optional Extra for Clinical Staff.
25^th January	Dr Caoilte O´Ciardha	University of Kent	The treatment needs of adult firesetters.
1^st February	Dr Douglas Howat	Psychology and Behavioural Sciences, Coventry University	Effective team-talks in sport: an identity leadership perspective.
8^th February	Prof. Neil Coulson	University of Nottingham	Online support communities: Who, what and why?
15^th February	Dr Rebecca Jenks	Psychology and Behavioural Sciences, Coventry University	The effects of Salvia Lavandulaefolia on behavioural and self rated measures of attention.
22^nd February	Luisa Tarczynski-Bowles	Psychology and Behavioural Sciences, Coventry University	Stress sensitivity and reading ability in primary school children.
29^th February	Sarah Critten	Psychology and Behavioural Sciences, Coventry University	The role of spelling in the relationship between oral and written language in children with specific language impairment.
7^th March	Lisa Hopkins	Psychology and Behavioural Sciences, Coventry University	Bullying and cyber-bullying.
14^th March	Dr Jackie Abell	Lancaster University	Discourse and Identity.
21^st March	Kate Walker	Psychology and Behavioural Sciences, Coventry University	Comparison of the psychological characteristic of desisters and persisters of intimate partner violence.
28^th March	Prof. Lucy Yardley	University of Southampton	Learning from LifeGuide: Developing web-based health interventions.
4^th April	Amy Grubb	Psychology and Behavioural Sciences, Coventry University	An exploratory study of police hostage (crisis) negotiation within the UK.

Hitting the Hub

2011-10-31T18:47:00.003Z

Met up with co-author colleagues David Giles and Clare Wood to do some forced labour on a joint project.

We met up and spent the entire day in a work pod at the Hub.

Location:Hitting the hub

Last minute preps for welcoming new students

2011-09-26T18:13:00.003+01:00

Freshers week is upon us again, so I've been making (what I hope are) the final adjustments to tomorrow's plans for welcoming incoming students on the MSc Health Psychology.

Time to stop though as experiencing brain fade.

Postgraduate open day

2011-09-03T18:00:00.001+01:00

Back home after an interesting stint dealing with enquiries at the postgraduate open day on our Coventry campus.

We had a very busy time on the Psychology desk with a queue forming rapidly.

I talked to people interested in several different courses, including the MSc Health Psychology (for which I'm now course director), MSc Forensic Psychology ( on campus course accredited by BPS), MSc Forensic Psychology and Crime (blended learning course), and the MSc Occupational Psychology.

I even spoke to someone who has already been accepted onto a course and wanted to know how she could make a head start on her background reading. Always nice to meet someone who's keen.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Why we find it hard to throw stuff out

2011-09-01T15:37:00.000+01:00

Interesting feature in BBC news Magazine today, on the growth in self storage business, and the factors fuelling it.

Reminded me of a research study we discuss in one of the final year seminars in Advanced Social Psychology:

Ahuvia (2005) Beyond the Extended Self: Loved Objects and Consumers' Identity Narratives.

Details

All you can eat

2011-08-31T16:08:00.004+01:00

Lunch today to say farewell to my colleague Katherine, who is leaving us for a prestigious research role in another part of the university.

We went to an all you can eat Chinese place in the centre of Coventry and while I didn't think we'd over-indulged have been suffering mild indigestion for the afternoon's marking bits and pieces of resit coursework.

Paid Internship Available

2011-08-09T12:21:00.000+01:00

Not really a blog post as such but I'd like to publicise this as widely as possible. A local charity I do some research with is advertising an internship opportunity.

They are Ryder Cheshire Volunteers, and the advert can be viewed at http://pdp.coventry.ac.uk/viewasset.aspx?oid=990356&type=file

Catching up

2011-08-02T17:19:00.000+01:00

Another day of catching up, including:

Talking to a charity sector partner organisation about recruiting a student intern to work with them in the coming academic year.
Making arrangements for students to resit exams deferred from May/June, including special needs such as extra time and particular colour of paper (yellow can help with some disabilities).
Marking some literature review papers submitted by students on the Health Psychology Masters programme (Reducing weight bias in healthcare professionals, home carers' experience of dementia care, types of chronic fatigue).
Giving feedback on the data analysis a PhD student has done.
Attempting to write references for recent graduates (with some difficulty as the online student records system seems to have temporarily gone phut)

Hoping to get back into my own research tomorrow!

Holidays all gone

2011-08-01T16:53:00.000+01:00

Back at work after three weeks annual leave - unable even to recall my password to log on to university IT system this morning. That's what I call a proper holiday.

Usual trawl through emails to attempt a catch-up.

The only interesting things I can think of to post about are probably too controversial for public consumption, so here is a nice picture of some donkeys I took on Ile de Re.

Sampling

2011-05-31T17:20:00.002+01:00

Spent most of today on administrative tidying: getting samples of work ready to be seen by the external examiners for the various programmes I am 'module leader' on:

BSc Hons Health & Lifestyle Management: Second year and third year psych modules
BSc Hons Psychology: a third year module on applied health psychology
MSc Health Psychology: a module on long term conditions

External examiners are senior academics from outside institutions who look at a sample of our students' work - in the context of a lot of other information - and check our academic standards.

For every module this requires the designated leader to put together a pack of information which typically includes:

Copy of the module guide and all guidance given to student on the assessment they're required to do
Copy of an overall marks list showing individual students' marks for each component (piece of coursework, exam, etc.), plus summary statistics for the whole group.
Copies of marked coursework with evidence that marks have been internally moderated (checked) by another academic
Copies of exam papers - with markers' guidelines
Copies of marked exam scripts with evidence that marks have been internally moderated (checked) by another academic

Some external examiners also request summary statistics broken down per exam question (to see if some questions seemed 'harder' than others).

We also have to produce a form that shows an assessment 'audit trail' - evidence that we got all our assessment tasks and instructions checked and signed off by another academic within the department - before we used them. This process does happen but keeping a record can sometimes be forgotten...

All of the documentation required is kept on file until near the examination boards - which are in the next couple of weeks - but it's still rather time consuming to collate it together into a digestible form. Not the most interesting of tasks but it still gives a sense of closure on the filing front.

Meanwhile of course teaching and assessment continues apace on postgraduate courses and preparations have to be made for students who'll be doing resits over the summer period.

PhD opportunities for research in psychology

2011-05-26T13:21:00.001+01:00

I haven't had a funded PhD student of my own since I've been at Coventry and am hoping that various changes to the Faculty structure and research groups/centres will mean that I can now compete for funds to support this. I have good experience of supervision but have tended to inherit other people's students rather than taking on people whose research interests coincide directly with my own.

The advert for PhD studentships came out online today. If anyone reading this is interested in doing a PhD in any of the following areas and would like me to supervise, please let me know as soon as possible:

Health, especially gender specific issues, e.g. women's reproductive health, men's health behaviours; long term/chronic conditions; experiences of healthcare, e.g. good and bad experiences and need to improve patient experience.

Coping with difficult situations, especially in emergency or disaster work, e.g. mundane day to day experiences of ambulance, fire and police crews, e.g. in-theatre and post deployment experiences of armed services personnel, including but not specifically focussed on responses to traumatic situations.

I'm guessing this will be very competitive so we can work together to help refine and develop your plans.
Please see the entrance requirements online at http://wwwm.coventry.ac.uk/researchnet/ResearchStudents/ResearchStudentships/Pages/StudentshipDetail.aspx?stuID=73

And contact me if you'd like to talk about it further.

Mostly marking -and a new department

2011-05-25T18:09:00.000+01:00

A lot of marking in last 24 hours...

Students on a final year module in health psychology took a multiple choice class test under exam conditions some weeks ago. This was administered online and gave them their marks and feedback right away - thus meeting our demanding new targets for providing timely student feedback - a key element in getting good student satisfaction scores and rising up the university league tables.

Unfortunately the marking key that had been provided had some errors in it. A couple of students noticed that they'd been marked as wrong for answers they were sure they'd gotten right. I have spent many hours in the interim checking all 100 questions and regrading all students' papers manually. Rather than being a quick and easy way to objectively assess students this turned out to be very time consuming and difficult - urgh. What didn't help was that every students' virtual test 'paper' had the questions numbered differently and presented in a randomised order. This technical wheeze is meant to make it less likely that students sitting at adjacent PCs might be tempted to copy each others' answers. It also made it a pain to identify the problem items when regrading them by hand.

Much simpler was my exam essay marking for M99PY Management of Chronic Illness and Disability. Only nine candidates, with two essays each. Very low tech (and arguably less objective), but much more pleasant to do. All the scripts are anonymised and I now hand them over to a colleague who will sample some and second mark them to check that the grading standard is appropriate and consistent.

The tedium was relieved today by a brief launch lunch, to celebrate the creation of a new academic department. Our faculty has just been restructured. Psychology will now be joined by colleagues from Clinical Psych, Criminology and Forensic and Investigative Studies, to form a new department called Psychology and Behavioural Sciences.

Disaster Management Days 2 and 3

2011-05-13T23:43:00.001+01:00

Rather briefer report from remainder of conference...

Met a nice man from Mexico who had just arrived and was (like me) expecting to be able to walk to the venue. We shared a taxi. His talk was on Physical vulnerability of critical facilities in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands

Other papers I found especially interesting included several reporting various indices and tools to assess and compare disaster preparedness, readiness and resilience, including these from the Argonne National Laboratory:

Assessing community and region emergency-services capabilities
Community resilience: measuring a community’s ability to withstand

I was also fascinated by a couple of presentations on emergency services responses. One of these highlighted a fairly simple problem that ought to be fairly straightforward to address. Apparently emergency responders (n the US state of Alabama at least) often report that traffic congestion significantly affects their ability to reach people in need, and that they are rarely given traffic information when setting off to jobs. Yet emergency dispatchers report that they often give this information but feel it makes little difference to outcomes. A case for dispatchers/controllers to spend the occasional shift in the vehicle with responders? And/or to use existing traffic information systems?

A much more complicated issue is how to co-ordinate responses to exceptional events, such as the July 2005 bombings on the London public transport system. One paper reported the use of mathematical modelling to optimise the use of resources when responding to mass casualties across multiple incident scenes. A major issue with this work may be persuading key decision makers that mathematical models have something valuable to offer, and helping them to understand how and why the models may work.

Disaster Management Day 1

2011-05-11T23:41:00.001+01:00

OK so a lot has been happening while I haven't been posting, but no time to relate that just at the moment.

I'm at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, attending the Disaster Management 2011 Conference organised jointly by UCF and Wessex Institute of Technology (UK).

We were welcomed to the event by Carlos Brebbia (WIT) and Alain Kassab (UCF) who each told us a lot about their respective organisations. We then had a very interesting keynote talk by Naim Kapucu, from the Centre for Public and Non-Profit Management. He described how his PhD research was on the emergency responses to the terrorist attacks on the USA in September 11th 2001. On completing this he thought he would move into more general policy issues but fate had different ideas. He relocated to Florida and in 2004 the central region was struck by four hurricanes in rapid succession. This inevitably drew him back into the field of emergency responses to large scale disasters.

[Florida is so accustomed to extreme weather events that every lecture theatre on campus has its own copy of the disaster response plan. The reality of this was brought home to me as I noticed the janitor's office next to the ladies loo was marked as a hurricane emergency local resource centre].

Dr Kapucu's research has made use of social network analysis to explore the interrelationships between the various federal, state, local, public and private sector organisations that all have a role to play in disaster management. he showed us some fascinating visual representations of the these networks, which can be used to diagnose weaknesses or breakdowns that may place the public at risk.

Towards the end of the day it was my turn to present the paper I co-authored with folks at Coventry: The contribution of human psychology to disaster management: mitigation, advance preparedness, response and recovery. Given this rather inclusive title, luckily in my presentation I only had to plot out a broad overview of the areas where work has been done, and highlight gaps where there is potential for further development. The talk went well (I think) and I had some interesting questions, including one from a US healthcare professional about the phenomenon of 'worried well' self-presenting to emergency departments in crises, and another on the ways in which online social networking may give us an insight into the behaviour of volunteers in a disaster. More great ideas for further research...
The paper is available (in full text, via open access) at http://library.witpress.com/pages/PaperInfo.asp?PaperID=22040

During the final session of the day we became aware of a thunderstorm and high winds which necessitated a swift retreat back to the conference hotel. I'm very grateful to the team who looked after us, reassured us and got us indoors safely before the threatened 'dime-sized' hailstones arrived.

Finally finished all that marking

2011-04-08T21:33:00.000+01:00

urgh... Finally managed to finish the dissertation marking today, and sent off my draft modules for the new degree programme:

Level 3: Clinical and Counselling Psychology

The aim of this module is to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the fields of clinical and counselling psychology, and the settings and client groups with whom clinical and counselling psychologists work.

Level 2: Professional Skills for Psychology Graduates

The aim of this module is to provide students with opportunities to develop, reflect on and refine the core subject-specific and generic transferable skills they will need to pursue graduate opportunities relevant to psychology.

Keen colleagues are off to a writing retreat tomorrow but I have to confess that I will be on the allotment ...

No longer LIW - sort of

2011-04-04T21:19:00.000+01:00

Having taken part in a pilot of location independent working (LIW) I have decided it is not for me. I miss the structure and stimulation of coming into the office each day - didn't think I would but I do.

So I have been allowed back into my old individual office, and will have to hand back the various bits of kit I had use of (multifunction printer, smart-phone, laptop). This may not be such a wrench as I had anticipated as:

I've been waiting for ink cartridges for the printer since Christmas 2010 (they arrived at the end of last week!)
The smart-phone has refused do do the 'smart' bit since we were migrated onto a new mobile network last week (it will take calls but not synchronise my outlook emails, calendar, etc.)

It has been rather spooky being back in my old room as it's very dusty and the wall calendar is still open at the page for June 2010. But at least I don't have to jump out of my skin every few minutes as someone in the sports lab upstairs drops a set of dumbbells on their floor, causing everything to shudder in the LIW 'touchdown space'.

I will really miss the laptop though as it's nice to have a clear (and clean) desk surface to work on when marking, etc. I gather some staff have swapped their bulky desktop PCs for laptops so I might see if I can do this too.

The hills are alive...

2011-04-01T17:42:00.003+01:00

...with the sound of marking.

OK it's the end of term and it would be tempting to run for the hills (or at the very least the allotment) in search of recreation, but I have just received twelve dissertations to mark, which come to 11.3 MB of text. No Easter holidays for me just yet...

Apple for the teacher?

2011-03-31T17:21:00.000+01:00

Had to collect some student feedback on my module today, using the standardised questionnaires. This process is a perennial source of amusement/offence/general bewilderment for academic staff. It's very hard not to take comments personally. Over the years and at various institutions (not necessarily my current one) I have known staff to cry, hit the bottle, construct voodoo dolls, consider a change of career, etc. - all based on the odd throwaway remark made on the questionnaires.

Someone has even written a paper on it:
Lindahl, M.W. & Unger, M.L. (2010) Cruelty in Student Teaching Evaluations. College Teaching, 58 (3): 71 - 76

To paraphrase from the comments made on a colleague's recent module evaluation: "He thinks he's IT you know - he SO isn't."

Or on one of mine after I'd spent hours devising classroom based activities and interactive sessions to stimulate and excite:
"Sometimes it seemed like Carol couldn't be bothered to lecture to us - we had to do lots of work in class to fill the time".

At least today's were fairly positive:

Interesting topics covered- long term conditions
An interesting subject area
Lecturer very knowledgeable about the topic
Beneficial to talk about careers related, journals, etc.
A lot of help in extra sources available on topics in a practical way
A chance to practice presentation skills to increase confidence
Explained well - well supported with appropriate research

Can't believe it's the last week of term already

2011-03-29T17:01:00.001+01:00

Can't believe it's the last week of term already. Still lots to try to get finished. Some recent highlights:

Been marking student assignments on the module I run on our MSc Health Psychology programme. Students have to write a case study of a hypothetical person who has a chronic health condition, describe the psychosocial issues they face, then choose and justify a self management intervention that will help them with these issues. Students can choose any condition they wish. Diabetes, HIV and arthritis proved the most popular choices this year.

I've also been writing new modules for the degree restructuring that's currently taking place for next academic year, including: clinical and counselling psychology, applied social psychology and professional skills for psychology graduates. I'm particularly keen on the last of these but finding an assessment strategy that will work for such a large group of students (its a mandatory module) will be a bit of a challenge.

In the last week I've drafted ethics submissions for projects with external collaborators, on the experience of volunteering and of monitoring one's fertility. I'm hoping that dissertation students and/or placement students will work on these in the next six months to a year.

I've also just submitted a research paper on PCOS to a journal - please please PLEASE don't let it be rejected... and have decided to write a blog entry as an excuse to digress from the very long NHS form I have been struggling with...

Enjoyable student discussion, and some frustration too.

2011-03-08T16:50:00.002Z

One hour plus meeting today with student on MSc health psych about his dissertation plans, and a piece of coursework he is about to attempt on my module M99PY Self management of chronic conditions.

Very interesting dissertation proposal on an aspect of caregiver burden in home-based care for dementia.
Good case study plan too - choosing a self management intervention for type 2 diabetes.

We had a very productive discussion - just wish I could spend an equal time with all the students I teach but the numbers mean that it doesn't bear thinking about.

Meanwhile have been writing a draft training programme in motivational interviewing for a public sector organisation - more later if we win the bid - and giving a two hour lecture to undergraduates on the discursive defense of threatened identities. We were 'discussing' two key papers:

Horton-Salway, M. (2001) 'Narrative Identities and the Management of Personal Accountability in Talk About ME: A Discursive Psychology Approach to Illness Narrative.' Journal of Health Psychology 6, (2) 247-259
Willott, S. and Griffin, C. (1999) 'Building Your Own Lifeboat: Working-Class Male Offenders Talk About Economic Crime.' British Journal of Social Psychology 38, 445-460

...or rather I should say I was talking about them. Only two students had actually read a paper in advance of the class, so the seminar discussion fell rather flat. I think I may also have offended one student with my reply to her question: "What is the exam on? Are we having a lecture on the exam?"

I asked her how many lectures she'd had on the module and her exasperated response suggested that she knew what I meant but dared not say out loud (That the exam is on the topics covered in the lectures we've been having all year - or did you think I just turned up and lectured because I'd nothing better to do...?).

I fear I may have compromised my student satisfaction scores...

Oh and gave feedback to a PhD student who is champing at the bit to submit for ethical approval of her next research study (apologies for the horse metaphor Felicity)

Drafty today

2011-03-07T16:53:00.000Z

I've spent much of today reading undergraduate students' draft copies of their individual research dissertations. This is one of the rare instances where students get to revise their work following tutor feedback, prior to submitting to be assessed.

I deal with these in the order that I received them - those who got the draft to me sooner are the first to get their feedback. I've done these:

People's responses to facial disfigurement

Locus of control, age, exercise activity and body image perception

and have yet to read these:

The subjective experience of self harm

Using an analysis of the subjective experience of opiate addiction to inform treatment programmes

Birth order effects and empathy

Gang membership

slippage may occur

2011-02-24T22:11:00.000Z

Teaching four hours non-stop is quite tiring...

'Psychosocial aspects of stroke' on MSc Health Psychology for two hours then straight to 'motivational interviewing' on MSc Forensic Psychology. Some slippage between the terms 'patient' and 'offender' may have been evident...

Making preparations

2011-02-23T21:15:00.000Z

Spent what seemed like an awfully long time this morning making preparations for travel to a conference in May. Visa waiver application, flights, accommodation,etc. At least it's done now.

Afternoon spent doing some marking, and preparing for tomorrow's classes on two different applied psychology masters programmes: Forensic Psychology and Health Psychology, plus a wee bit of research on an external organisation who've expressed an interest in buying some training from us.

Really looking forward to Friday when I hope to pick up my OWN work again - if I ever manage to catch up on all the (increasingly terse) emails that are swamping my inbox...

Has it really been so long?

2011-02-23T00:34:00.000Z

Been busy - too busy... But back to it:

Supervising a test today for students on the third year option module Applied Health Psychology. Students took the test online and got their results immediately - nicely meeting the new fast turnaround time for student feedback ;-) - with exception of a few who encountered technical problems and will get their papers manually marked within a day or so.

Some very pleasing results overall.

In the interim, one of my colleagues (Erica Bowen) has been on Radio 4 Women's Hour, discussing her new book on domestic violence. Listen again is highly recommended http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00yj189

Not the best day ever...

2011-02-01T21:16:00.000Z

The day started badly when I turned up to give a guest lecture and found that the room had changed without my knowing. A colleague, who left for a new post recently, had neglected to mention that the room for my two guest spots had changed. Embarrassing exit from the room I had set up my presentation in, several phone calls later and a chance meeting with one of the students in the corridor... eventually turned up to the new room to find that all but one of the students had left - v. frustrating.

Then got some horrible news at lunch time about the health of one of my valued research collaborators - which put things in perspective somewhat. We are all thinking about her and wishing her the best for the tough few months she's likely to have ahead.

Feedback on student presentations

2011-01-31T18:12:00.001Z

Pleasant session today with third year students on the Health & Lifestyle Management degree - giving feedback on a practice presentation.

We ask our students to prepare a presentation as if for a job interview. Today's was for a post working as a healthy lifestyle support worker in a forensic mental health unit. A particular focus was on the ethical dilemmas that one might face in working in this setting.

We give students video recordings of their presentations so they can view and critique their own performance.

Also advertised another voluntary research internship: focusing on assistance dogs placed with families where a child has a developmental disability.

Tick tick tick

2011-01-28T17:07:00.001Z

Have just finished some marking on the Health & Lifestyle Management course - to meet our new super-fast feedback turnaround time - and it's the end of the working week already. Students have said some nice things about their experience of the Health Behaviour Change module we offer, which includes the following:

Motivational interviewing knowledge and skills refresher

MI with sent clients, with groups, in rehab settings.

CBT refresher

Lay-led and peer-led health behaviour change interventions

Classifying health behavioural change interventions

Publicly funded health behaviour change programmes in the UK and beyond

Intervention mapping : health behaviour change programmes in the UK and beyond

Key ethical issues in research on health and lifestyle management

Key ethical issues in practice in health and lifestyle management

The different roles played by professionals working in health and lifestyle management

Diversity awareness issues working in health and lifestyle management

Meanwhile - I have a new(to me via ebay) shed AND it's potato day at Ryton Organic Gardens tomorrow - my joy is complete...

Since Monday

2011-01-27T20:23:00.000Z

Since Monday have forgotten to post. Monday night was teaching until 8.30 pm for part-time students, so got thrown slightly off kilter in my posting habits.

Tuesday teaching social psychology, with a focus on personal construct psychology:

Doster, J. A., Mielke, R. K., Riley, C. A., Toledo, J. R., Goven, A. J., & Moorefield, R. (2006). Play and health among a group of adult business executives. Social Behavior and Personality, 34(9), 1071-1080.

Weiss, P. A., Watson, N., & McGuire, H. (2003). Smoking and self-concept in young adults: An idiographic method of measurement. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 16(4), 323-334.

Wednesday meeting with student representatives as part of the student forum. As final year tutor for psychology I was especially keen to find out what we can do to help our soon-to-be-graduates with their employment prospects. Given that it's just been announced that graduate unemployment is at 20% they will need all the help we can give them.

Bumpass Hell

2011-01-21T21:55:00.000Z

Ok so the bubble has been burst.

I opened the editor's decision email referred to in yesterday's post. It was a rejection...

Editor's comment:

Thank you for allowing us to consider this work for (name of journal). At this point your paper has been reviewed by one expert reviewer only, who has presented us with a quite brief review. In order to avoid a delay I decided not to invite more reviewers. However, we have subjected your paper to a thorough editorial evaluation.

Reviewer #1: I enjoyed reading the paper which makes a worthy contribution to an under-researched area. Although the paper is well-structured, I have a number of minor suggestions to improve it...

Editor's comment:
Because of an increase in submissions, we can only publish a minority of the manuscripts we receive. Space constraints dictate that that to an increasing extent we may publish only those manuscripts providing significantly novel insights or new perspectives.

Sadly, this means that we are unable to publish many manuscripts of significant quality. I must regretfully inform you that based on the review and our editorial evaluation your paper did not reach a high enough priority to be further considered for publication.

Sob

Preparing for clinical - and is my bubble about to burst?

2011-01-20T20:29:00.002Z

Teaching students on MSc Health Psychology today - looking specifically at pain management programmes and the guidelines offered by the British Pain Society and the International Association for the Study of Pain.

Also preparing some teaching materials for tomorrow morning's session teaching narrative analysis to year two clinical psychology trainees.

Meanwhile, an email has arrived with an editorial decision from a journal we submitted to in the autumn. Am postponing looking at it in case it's bad news. If I look tomorrow and it turns out to be bad news at least I will have the weekend to lick my wounds...

Happy day - but mysterious

2011-01-19T22:43:00.000Z

Great meeting today with colleagues to discuss some research collaboration. Decided on the scope and shape of a future project - which must remain a mystery until we have secured some funding...

Some snowdrops have appeared in the garden as well.

More teaching

2011-01-18T21:20:00.000Z

Met with my head of department today to talk about taking on some extra bits and pieces of cover within the health psychology team. There have been a few moves (departures, other people's sabbaticals, planned absences, etc.) so duties have to be swapped around a little.

I also broke the news about the Florida conference, and my HoD was positive about supporting me to attend - reasonable costs permitting.

Teaching this afternoon on Advanced Social Psychology. Allocated students a couple of papers to read on the use of personal construct approaches in social psychology:

Doster, J. A., Mielke, R. K., Riley, C. A., Toledo, J. R., Goven, A. J., & Moorefield, R. (2006). Play and health among a group of adult business executives. Social Behavior and Personality, 34(9), 1071-1080.

Weiss, P. A., Watson, N., & McGuire, H. (2003). Smoking and self-concept in young adults: An idiographic method of measurement. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 16(4), 323-334.

Looking forward to hearing what they make of them when we meet again next week...

Health and lifestyle management

2011-01-17T21:49:00.000Z

Teaching again today on 305HLM Health behaviour change, on the BSc Hons Health & Lifestyle Management Programme.

We were discussing employment opportunities and what our graduates could contribute to multidisciplinary teams in various settings.

Examples of interesting jobs we discussed included:

PhD studentships, e.g. http://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/ABZ072/fully-funded-environmental-sciences-phd-studentship/

Rehab support workers, e.g. http://www.jobs.nhs.uk/cgi-bin/vacdetails.cgi?selection=912602438

Low Intensity Worker (IAPT), e.g. http://www.jobs.nhs.uk/cgi-bin/vacdetails.cgi?selection=912601336

Smoking cessation advisor, e.g. http://www.jobs.nhs.uk/cgi-bin/vacdetails.cgi?selection=912597565

Some disappointment was expressed at the starting salaries...

Unrelatedly - I bought a second hand strimmer on ebay to start clearing the allotment with.

Setting the bar

2011-01-13T15:59:00.002Z

Had a meeting today with a senior colleague to set my 'performance objectives' (urgh) for the coming year. As the achievement (or otherwise) of these now has an impact on whether we get our annual salary increments the process has become even more anxiety-provoking than ever...

Had a nice first lecture today with students on the masters in health psychology. We were focusing on theory and terminology related to disability, impairment and chronic illness. After I highlighted the specific conditions we will be studying in more detail over the coming weeks (see yesterday) one student asked for more info on dementia. This used to be a specific lecture which we covered in depth, but due to time restrictions we had to remove it in favour of diabetes (tough choice - kind of wish there was more time). So here is the reading I recommended to him:

Banerjee, S., Samsi, K., Petrie, C. D., Alvir, J., Treglia, M., Schwam, E. M., & de Valle, M. (2009). What do we know about quality of life in dementia? A review of the emerging evidence on the predictive and explanatory value of disease specific measures of health related quality of life in people with dementia. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 24(1), 15-24. doi:10.1002/gps.2090

Caddell, L. S., & Clare, L. (2010). The impact of dementia on self and identity: A systematic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 30(1), 113-126. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2009.10.003

De Boer, M. E., Hertogh, C. M. P. M., Dröes, R. -., Riphagen, I. I., Jonker, C., & Eefsting, J. A. (2007). Suffering from dementia - the patient's perspective: A review of the literature. International Psychogeriatrics, 19(6), 1021-1039. doi:10.1017/S1041610207005765

Deep, K. S., Hunter, A., Murphy, K., & Volandes, A. (2010). "It helps me see with my heart": How video informs patients' rationale for decisions about future care in advanced dementia. Patient Education and Counseling, 81(2), 229-234. doi:10.1016/j.pec.2010.02.004

Hamilton-West, K. E., Milne, A. J., Chenery, A., & Tilbrook, C. (2010). Help-seeking in relation to signs of dementia: A pilot study to evaluate the utility of the common-sense model of illness representations. Psychology, Health and Medicine, 15(5), 540-549. doi:10.1080/13548506.2010.487109

O'Connor, D. W., Ames, D., Gardner, B., & King, M. (2009). Psychosocial treatments of behavior symptoms in dementia: A systematic review of reports meeting quality standards. International Psychogeriatrics, 21(2), 225-240. doi:10.1017/S1041610208007588

O'Connor, D. W., Ames, D., Gardner, B., & King, M. (2009). Psychosocial treatments of psychological symptoms in dementia: A systematic review of reports meeting quality standards. International Psychogeriatrics, 21(2), 241-251. doi:10.1017/S1041610208008223

Seignourel, P. J., Kunik, M. E., Snow, L., Wilson, N., & Stanley, M. (2008). Anxiety in dementia: A critical review. Clinical Psychology Review, 28(7), 1071-1082. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2008.02.008

Van Der Roest, H. G., Meiland, F. J. M., Maroccini, R., Comijs, H. C., Jonker, C., & Dröes, R. -. (2007). Subjective needs of people with dementia: A review of the literature. International Psychogeriatrics, 19(3), 559-592. doi:10.1017/S1041610206004716

Module starts again

2011-01-12T20:01:00.000Z

Wrote a reference today for one of our graduates who is applying to do a masters in social work. This is a highly relevant way to apply the knowledge and skills developed in a BSc Psychology degree.
I've also been finalising the module guide and various teaching materials for my MSc health psychology module which starts tomorrow: M99PY Self management of chronic illness and disability. Tomorrow's session is on theoretical models of disability. I'll be telling students about the papers they will be asked to present on in the comming weeks, including:

Pain

Campbell, C., & Guy, A. (2007). 'Why can't they do anything for a simple back problem?' A qualitative examination of expectations for low back pain treatment and outcome. Journal of Health Psychology, 12(4), 641-652.

Fullen, B. M., Baxter, G. D., O'Donovan, B. G. G., Doody, C., Daly, L., & Hurley, D. A. (2008). Doctors' attitudes and beliefs regarding acute low back pain management: A systematic review. Pain, 136(3), 388-396.

Diabetes

Dantzer, C., Swendsen, J., Maurice-Tison, S., & Salamon, R. (2003). Anxiety and depression in juvenile diabetes: A critical review. Clinical Psychology Review, 23(6),787-800.
Grigsby, A. B., Anderson, R. J., Freedland, K. E., Clouse, R. E., & Lustman, P. J. (2002). Prevalence of anxiety in adults with diabetes a systematic review. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 53(6), 1053-1060.

Asthma

Milton, B., Whitehead, M., Holland, P., & Hamilton, V. (2004). The social and economic consequences of childhood asthma across the lifecourse: A systematic review. Child: Care, Health and Development, 30(6), 711-728.

Weiser, E. B. (2007). The prevalence of anxiety disorders among adults with asthma: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings, 14(4), 297-307.

Stroke

Donnellan, C., Hevey, D., Hickey, A., & O'Neill, D. (2006). Defining and quantifying coping strategies after stroke: A review. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 77(11), 1208-1218.

Gilworth, G., Phil, M., Cert, A., Sansam, K. A. J., & Kent, R. M. (2009). Personal experiences of returning to work following stroke: An exploratory study. Work, 34(1), 95-103.

Coronary heart disease

French, D. P., Cooper, A., & Weinman, J. (2006). Illness perceptions predict attendance at cardiac rehabilitation following acute myocardial infarction: A systematic review with meta-analysis. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 61(6), 757-767.

Woodgate, J., & Brawley, L. R. (2008). Self-efficacy for exercise in cardiac rehabilitation: Review and recommendations. Journal of Health Psychology, 13(3), 366-387.

Cancer

Najjar, N., Davis, L. W., Beck-Coon, K., & Carney Doebbeling, C. (2009). Compassion fatigue: A review of the research to date and relevance to cancer-care providers. Journal of Health Psychology, 14(2), 267-277.

Ussher, J. M., Perz, J., Hawkins, Y., & Brack, M. (2009). Evaluating the efficacy of psychosocial interventions for informal carers of cancer patients: A systematic review of the research literature. Health Psychology Review, 3(1), 85-107.

Spring soon to be be springing

2011-01-11T21:06:00.000Z

Term restarted yesterday, so seems a reasonable time to post again - plus the winter solstice has been and gone, so the days are getting longer...

Managed to send a paper off yesterday, which should be published in conference proceedings. Now just need to arrange a US visa and flight, etc, so I can attend and present it.

Very pleased to say that PhD student Felicity had a successful Progress Review Panel at the end of her first year of research. Well done!

I also got my membership card for the allotment today, so much fantasising about digging, sowing, growing and eating...

Got the carrots thanks

2010-12-24T16:00:00.000Z

University closes this evening until 4th January, so I thought I'd sign off with my top picks from this year's festive journal articles:

An unexpected christmas present - Failure of a 48-inch waterline

Look what Santa Pharma brought for Christmas: A urological drug to treat the whole patient

and

Optimizing a basal bark spray of dinotefuran to manage armored scales (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) in Christmas tree plantations

I think I've had enough of the academic life for now so I might start on the cocktail sausages.

Having an assistance dog

2010-12-23T17:01:00.001Z

Today I have been giving some feedback on a draft PhD chapter, and thinking about people's experiences of having dogs in the family, when a member is ill or disabled.

Have been looking at a few published accounts, including:

A Puppy Called Aero: An Inspirational Story by Liam Creed
Endal: How one extraordinary dog brought a family back from the brink by Allen Parton
Every Dog Has A Gift : True Stories of Dogs Who Bring Hope & Healing into Our Lives by Rachel McPherson
Healing Companions: Ordinary Dogs and Their Extraordinary Power to Transform Lives by Jane Miller
Learn with LaDee: A Service Dog by Betty Jean Pearson
My Invisible World: Life With My Brother, His Disability and His Service Dog by Morasha R. Winokur
Please...Don't Eat the Crayons, Harry!: Moving Beyond Attention Deficit with Help from a Service Dog Named Harry! by Rita Kirsch Debroitner
Sassy: The short stories of being a service dog by Elizabeth Reeve
Second Chance: How Adoption Saved a Boy with Autism & His Shelter Dog by Sandra J. Gerencher
The Dog that Saved My Life: Incredible true stories of canine loyalty beyond all bounds by Isabel George
The Joy of Lex: Life with a Service Dog by John Thomas Clark
Transformation of the Heart: Tales of the Profound Impact Therapy Dogs Have on Their Humans by Teri Pichot

But for now I am off through the snow (on foot, sans wheelbarrow) to see if Sainsburys have any carrots...

MY icicle

2010-12-22T17:19:00.000Z

It was too dark yesterday by the time I blogged to take a pic of MY icicle, so I used one from wiki commons. Here today, in all its splendour is mine...

Been reading some interesting papers today on the theme of fertility monitoring, including:

Diaz, M. (1997). Gender, sexuality and communication issues that constitute barriers to the use of natural family planning and other fertility awareness-based methods. Advances in Contraception, 13(2-3), 303-309. doi:10.1023/A:1006580727579

Severy, L. J., Robinson, J., Findley-Klein, C., & McNulty, J. (2006). Acceptability of a home monitor used to aid in conception: Psychosocial factors and couple dynamics. Contraception, 73(1), 65-71. doi:10.1016/j.contraception.2005.07.008

Sinai, I., Lundgren, R., Arévalo, M., & Jennings, V. (2006). Fertility awareness-based methods of family planning: Predictors of correct use. International Family Planning Perspectives, 32(2), 94-100.

Fertility awareness and self-monitoring

2010-12-21T17:03:00.001Z

Have been doing a lot of literature searching today - looking at peer reviewed research on the use of various self-tests and monitors women can use to detect periods of low and high fertility.

These are used both as methods of natural contraception, and to assist those actively trying to enhance their changes of conceiving.

They have become fairly high tech recently, and some are systems rather than devices, using online data records and incorporating interactivity.

There is also a lot of money to be made/spent on these technologies. While there is a literature on their efficacy in terms of 'hard outcomes' (conception/non-conception being the most obvious) I've not seen much on the psychosocial impact of using them.

Meanwhile, I have been enjoying watching a big icicle wax and wane outside my study window in the course of the day...

Marketing motivational interviewing

2010-12-20T12:00:00.000Z

Have been asked by a senior colleague for some quotes from our Motivational Interviewing course evaluations, which can be used to market the courses:

"This was very insightful and applicable outside of work also - helpful for reflective practice."

"I found it really interesting and I gained a lot from it. I would be extremely interested in taking it further, so if you could keep in touch with any potential opportunities or further training I would very grateful."

I also signposted her to the poster presentations I made at the British Psychological Society Annual Conference 2010, and the European Health Psychology Society conference in September. The poster be viewed at this link.

Have just noticed that the online shop link for the course doesn't mention that it is approved by the CPD centre at the British Psychological Society, so must get this sorted out today.

False dawn...

2010-12-17T22:44:00.000Z

Okay so that last post was a bit premature...

Two weeks on I think I am finally emerging from the brain fog that accompanied my strange cold-flu hybrid affliction - which hubbie has suggested 'may' have been swine flu.

Have continued to work in the interim as time has been running rapidly out on my sabbatical, but haven't had the energy to blog at the end of each working day.

Usual work activities ongoing. My whiteboard now has 12 priority projects on it, with the aim to cycle through them in order:

Developing a self management behaviour change intervention in PCOS
Qualitative study of healthcare experiences
Expert Patient intervention for PCOS
Psychology and disaster management project
Ryder Cheshire Volunteers research
Developing a decision support aid
The motivational interviewing courses at Coventry

Plus several new 'mystery' collaborations, which relate to students' research skills development, my volunteer tutoring for the Expert Patient Programme, children's health and a piece of technology relating to subfertility.

Oh and then there's the small matter of an imminent new term with normal teaching duties (complete with much reduced turnaround times for marking). Looks like I'm going to be busy...

Pic courtesy of dawnmist - visit her website for clanger images, pottery, chemicals and much much more.

Emerging from the fog

2010-12-02T22:37:00.000Z

Haven't had a terribly productive day due to brain fade associated with having a cold (why does it have this effect?), I think/hope I am now emerging from the fog.

I have a big backlog of stuff I wanted to do but didn't get done - mostly following on from the motivational interviewing and Verity/PCOS activities last week. Especially interested in the government's plans to shift responsibility for public health from the NHS to local authorities, and a call fromThe Kings Fund and Centre for Mental Health for greater efficiency in mental health services.

Human Strengths

2010-12-01T22:42:00.000Z

Came across this on the BBC new site. 'Ordinary' people are often truly inspirational:
Gill Hicks, Jude Onyeze, David Boyce

Cold feet, RSI and the common cold

2010-11-30T20:37:00.000Z

Not only have a cold but now in danger of getting repetitive strain injury from fixing a little (ish) problem in the disaster management spreadsheet that our interns are working on. Lots of abstracts have been truncated as a consequence of being exported from RefWorks. Note to self: Never ever use this method again - always export directly from SCOPUS.

Am hoping to get the mended spreadsheet back up on our SharePoint site tomorrow.

Back in the provinces

2010-11-29T21:04:00.001Z

Successful couple of days in London, making some good contacts which I hope to follow up on soon.

Was especially intrigued by the complexities of choosing treatment for hirsutism - how women negotiate their way successfully through this minefield is a mystery to me. Am interested to see if there are any decision support aids available.

Also talked to Oriane who works for a company who've developed a novel system to enable women to monitor their menstrual cycles - to take more control over fertility.

Think I am getting a cold - why does this interfere with my ability to think properly?

Still waiting for the raucousness to kick in...

Big smoke for a couple of days

2010-11-25T22:45:00.000Z

Rather annoyingly had news today that the student I spent half a day designing a personalised programme of retake work for last week didn't bother to turn up for the first scheduled meeting. Wondering sometimes why we bother...

Pleased to get an email today from someone who attended our motivational interviewing day yesterday, and hoping to develop an applied research collaboration as a result. I always meet people working on interesting projects when I run these events, and it's nice to have a chance to find out more about their work.

Off to London tomorrow for a couple of days related conference activity.

Friday
PCOS UK (health professionals conference) , with topics including:

PCOS, Physical Activity and Insulin Resistance
Practical steps to tackling common dermatology issues
Living with PCOS - developing effective coping strategies
Reducing the quality of life impact of PCOS - top tips for primary care
Research Digest
Cardiovascular risk and PCOS - effective management strategies
The risks and benefits of bariatric surgery in the management of PCOS

Saturday
Verity (patient group for women whose lives are affected by PCOS), topics including:

Emotional impact of PCOS - Colette Harris
Get to know your menstrual cycle - Dr Lisa Webber
Alopecia and excess hair - Dr Alison Layton
Being slim with PCOS - Speaker TBC
Weight loss options for PCOS - Dr David Haslam
PCOS and your fertility - Professor Stephen Franks

Staying in a Travelodge so not taking my laptop and therefore no posts. No offence Travelodge, I just don't fancy leaving it in boot of car all day.

A better day

2010-11-24T20:39:00.000Z

A more productive day today (I think):

Training workshop on motivational, interviewing with some very engaged and interesting delegates.

Was rather nippy in the Jaguar Building, but we just about coped.

One of the things we discussed was the use of motivational interviewing with children. I suspect that there may be a need to adapt the delivery - perhaps by using graphics, games and stories, etc. that take into account children's level of socio-emotional and cognitive development - but haven't come across anything in print.

A couple of related papers are:

Gance-Cleveland, B. (2007). Motivational interviewing: Improving patient education. Journal of Pediatric Health Care, 21(2), 81-88.

Söderlund, L. L., Nordqvist, C., Angbratt, M., & Nilsen, P. (2009). Applying motivational interviewing to counselling overweight and obese children. Health Education Research, 24(3), 442-449.

We also (briefly) mentioned various systems for rating the quality of motivational interviewing. See:

Forsberg, L., Källmén, H., Hermansson, U., Berman, A., & Helgason, Á. (2007). Coding counsellor behaviour in motivational interviewing sessions: Inter-rater reliability for the swedish motivational interviewing treatment integrity code (MITI). Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, 36(3), 162-169.

Madson, M. B., & Campbell, T. C. (2006). Measures of fidelity in motivational enhancement: A systematic review. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 31(1), 67-73.

Mastroleo, N. R., Mallett, K. A., Turrisi, R., & Ray, A. E. (2009). Psychometric properties of the peer proficiency assessment (PEPA): A tool for evaluation of undergraduate peer counselors' motivational interviewing fidelity. Addictive Behaviors, 34(9), 717-722.

Wallace, L., & Turner, F. (2009). A systematic review of psychometric evaluation of motivational interviewing integrity measures. Journal of Teaching in the Addictions, 8(1-2), 84-123.

Snag after snag

2010-11-23T18:38:00.006Z

Past week has been a further series of technical difficulties - and not just with IT. That's my excuse anyway for lack of posts.

While something nasty has been growing under our stealthily leaking bathroom at home (actual mushroom-shaped mushrooms! urgh) I have also been:

Writing a draft of a research paper on PCOS and healthcare experiences.
Biting my nails in dread of getting a rejection letter relating to the last paper I submitted to a journal.
Setting up a SharePoint group and blog for the interns working on the Disaster Management project.
Checking for consistency the answers prospective interns gave to the online coding quality/consistency test they have to pass in order to move onto data coding in earnest.
Updating my knowledge in motivational interviewing to make sure that I am prepared for a particular group of delegates attending our motivational interviewing course tomorrow - some are forensic psychologists and some health psychology researchers working with young children.
Setting up a programme of work and online materials for a student who failed a module last year, who is entitled to retake it, even though the programme no longer exists.
And sundry other bits of admin, marketing, etc.

The prospect of my sabbatical ending at the end of December and my having to be back on campus more is a little daunting, but I am looking forward to attending the research seminars we have on Wednesdays. here are some of the forthcoming talks for the new year:

12th January
Simon Goodman
Coventry University
How race and racism are removed from anti-asylum arguments

26th January
Christine Grant
Coventry University
The development of actionable work life balance measures in the context of e-working an their relationship to well being and job effectiveness’

2nd February
Carol Percy and Stacey Harris
Coventry University
Learning and leisure aspiration of people with physical disabilities: A placement research project with Ryder Cheshire Volunteers

9th February
Leigh Harkins
University of Birmingham
The Impact of Denial in Sex Offenders

2nd March

Karen Littleton
Open University
Educational Dialogues: Understanding and promoting productive interaction

9th March
Sarah Butterworth
Coventry University
Male experience of breast cancer

16th March
Claire Taylor
ARC/HLI
Enhancing and assessing fidelity of delivery of health behaviour change interventions in Primary Care’

23rd March
Ben Roberts
Coventry University
Extra-Sensory Perception: Fact or Science Fiction? Experimental and Qualitative Studies of Psi Phenomena

30th March
Steph Waldron, Sophie Bowry, and Gemma Gray
Coventry University
Context dependent memory; Gum chewing and stress

Fog, frost and technical snags

2010-11-16T16:56:00.000Z

Sent a large part of yesterday on the M6, travelling to and from and meeting with colleagues in the North. Managed to skip most of the fog and car mishaps, and the visit was well worth while - for me anyway.

I met some healthcare colleagues I'd last seen at the Endocrine Nurse Update event in September. They were kind enough to show me around their PCOS clinic and let me sit in a for a while. We also had some early stage discussions about possible applied research collaboration.

Writing an outline draft of a paper today and responding to various emails about the Disaster Management research. We have had a few technical problems and have had to resort to delivering data in person. I hope everyone is wrapped up well...

Clunky link but: The weekend saw progress with both the leaf clearing and my new home made coat. Had to stop at the pockets as I was having a bit of a mental block interpreting the instructions. But I've worked it out now and might get it finished next weekend.

Can it really be Friday already?

2010-11-12T16:42:00.000Z

Where does the time go???

Packaged up some data from my PCOS research and sent it off for independent analysis by my two colleagues Lynne and Rachael. Will be really interesting to get together and compare our analyses. Having others look at data you've collected is great as they always spot things you haven't.

Ran through the online coding test I've designed for interns on the disaster management project. It seems to be working ok so I should be able to post the link to individuals once they've gotten through the literature searching task on SCOPUS.

Prepared a presentation for Monday to talk through with NHS colleagues I am meeting in the North of England. Looking forward to seeing them again, and sitting in on their clinics.

And for the weekend: if the wind and rain stops I shall mostly be sucking up leaves from the garden. If it doesn't, I hope to make a Butterick Pattern B5297. It says "FAST AND EASY" - that remains to be seen...

Testing the interns

2010-11-11T18:40:00.001Z

Slower going today:

Writing some instructions on literature searching, and designing a test for our (so far) six prospective interns on the disaster management project. Applicants need to pass so we can ensure the quality and consistency of our data analysis.

Also happily signed off the ethics screening protocol for Felicity's survey of assistance dog providers. Looking forward to the data coming in.

Oh and meanwhile... while my hubbie was out treating an elderly patient the other night, he saw a farm offering private allotments. I talked to them them today and should be getting one in January. After several years on the waiting list in Warwick I am reaching a fever pitch of excitement!

Trying not to be mechanical...

2010-11-10T23:12:00.001Z

Busy on campus day today:

Earlier part of morning attending the opening of the conference I mentioned yesterday. Inspired by colleagues’ presentations.

Late morning dealing with usual bunch of emails.

Excellent meeting with three co-researchers, to agree who was going to do what regarding two major data sets: women’s experiences with polycystic ovary syndrome, and families’ experiences with assistance dogs. Looking forward to both.

Then pitched the Disaster Management research internship to a pleasantly substantial group of students (and one graduate) who had expressed an interest. Despite the fact that we have no money to offer, it was gratifying to find that several people remained committed to taking the posts up, even after seeing my PowerPoint presentation.

After that it was back to the conference, where it seems that I missed some controversy and impassioned debate. Replace FGM, the associated project, aims to address problems associated with female genital mutilation, on health and human rights grounds. But the term ‘mutilation’ when applied in this context is problematic for some. Essentially the same surgical procedure requested by a white western woman might be deemed acceptable on the basis that it enhances her self-esteem or sexual confidence, yet condemned as abusive and oppressive in a black African woman. Huge issues here as regards how ‘we’ define ‘health’ and individual autonomy.

Meanwhile it all got a bit nasty at the student fees protests in London. I know some of our students travelled to the event. Just hope that none were involved, either as perpetrators of the violence, or innocent onlookers.

Double booked, but in a good cause

2010-11-09T21:04:00.000Z

Good meeting today with Felicity, the PhD student I co-supervise with colleagues Gill Ward and Sandy Herron-Marx. We agreed on work to be completed before the annual progress review meeting in early January. And Felicity is almost ready to go live with her first set of data collection. Link will appear on her blog soon.

Have also had to book a room for tomorrow to speak to all the prospective interns who've responded to my offer of research assistant experience. Am surprised and delighted that there's been such an enthusiastic response. I am attending a conference organised by colleagues tomorrow but will have to fore go the afternoon session to talk to the candidates. The topic is one that I think deserves much more attention than it's had to date: recognising, preventing and addressing the problems associated with female genital mutilation.

Somewhat discouraged

2010-11-08T21:10:00.000Z

Didn't post last Friday due to being (as we would put it in my native dialect) utterly fashed and teetotally scunnered.

Received an email in the afternoon that the research grant application Fang and I submitted earlier this year has been rejected (or more correctly not wanted for further development).

Hard not to take it personally given the work that went into it, but just have to find another way to get the work done. Here's what the prospective funder said:

I write concerning your recent application to ..x.. This has been given careful consideration but I regret to inform you that, under the pressure of the competition for awards, your application has been seen as unlikely to secure a grant. Under the circumstances, I am afraid that I cannot encourage you to take the trouble to prepare a detailed application.

I appreciate that this will come as a disappointment to you. I regret also that there is no simple way in which the grounds for the decision can be satisfactorily imparted. Your proposal was reviewed alongside the many other calls upon the support of ..x.. and it is in this context that the decision has been made; any explanation would therefore require reference to the full array of proposals under consideration.

May I accordingly ask you to accept this response as an indicator of the many demands made upon ..x.. and as no reflection upon your courtesy in putting forward the bid.

Yours sincerely,Y

Spent weekend doing self-administered horticultural therapy - felt a bit sorry for a poor toad who I disturbed when cutting back the geraniums...Pic isn't mine as he was having a bad hair day and hopped away.

Delegation...

2010-11-04T21:08:00.000Z

hmmm... been spending longer than I planned literature reviewing for the Disaster Management paper. So time for some delegation. I've set the parameters and analytical framework - just need someone conscientious to follow my instructions and put the hours in.

I've offered this as a voluntary internship for a student who wants to develop their research skills, with the possibility of joint authorship as a reward at the end. Hope someone takes it up...

pis credit: nothing to do with post - I just liked the wiki commons picture of the day.

Literature Searching in Disaster Management

2010-11-03T17:10:00.000Z

Most of today has been spent literature searching in preparation for a manuscript my colleague and I are writing.

Percy, C. & Chen, Y.F.
The potential contribution of human psychology to disaster management: advance preparedness, acute responses and longer term psychosocial effects.
Paper to be presented to the 2nd International Conference on Disaster Management and Human Health: Reducing Risk, Improving Outcomes, 11 - 13 May 2011, Orlando, USA

Fortunately such searches no longer have to be done by hand or on foot, thanks to the university's excellent online library facilities.

Role play audio

2010-11-02T16:01:00.002Z

Put some audio online today for a delegate from last week's motivational interviewing course. We role played working with a number of different clients and recorded them to reflect on our practice.

Clients included:

‘Douglas’ - a man aged 25 years, who lives in a homeless persons shelter and is considering moving out. You meet Douglas while working as an occupational therapist in outreach. He really hates some aspects of living in the shelter, but is unsure if he’d be better off there or trying to find his own accommodation.

‘George’ - a man aged 65, who has had a lower limb amputation following complications of type 2 diabetes. George has been referred by domiciliary care as he has so far declined all offers of physical adaptations to his home.

‘Jane’ - a woman aged 45, who has been in the same job for 20 years and finds it unfulfilling. Jane heard about life coaching from a friend who found it useful and thought that you might help her decide whether she wants a change of career.

‘Mary’ - a woman aged 50 years, with a body mass index of 40. Mary has been referred by her GP, as lifestyle advice has not resulted in the weight loss he has advised.

We focused on the four key areas of motivational interviewing:

Expressing empathy
Rolling with resistance
Developing discrepancy
Supporting self-efficacy

Our next course is on Wednesday 24^th November 2010. For further details and to book your place online see the online store.

Not NICE any more

2010-11-01T21:05:00.000Z

Have had a bout of non-posting. I sometimes have a 'second wind' late evening and write something then, but from Weds to Friday last week I was finishing so late that I was too 'zausted to do so.

Wednesday - yet more data analysis; agreed to a PhD student from the Centre for Peace and Reconciliation Studies joining my health psych masters module in the New Year. She is researching links between military, traumatic injury and sport, so I will be very interested to meet her and find out more.

Thursday - a most stimulating and rewarding day running training in motivational interviewing at the Graduate Centre. Some good evaluation feedback from a delegate who is training in Occupational Therapy:
"Really interesting. Application to practice obvious."

Friday - back to project planning; and making some minor edits to the online submission of the research paper we submitted on Monday. Hoping it will be sent out for review soon.

Today:
Met with another PhD student to review a draft of her survey on assistance dogs organisations. Looking very positive.

Attended a progress review panel conducted by video conferencing with a PhD student based overseas.

Meanwhile, a lot of health related stories in the news:

National Institute for Health & Clinical Excellence will continue to advise the UK health service on effectiveness of medicines, but will no longer be able to approve/disapprove them being prescribed by clinicians.

A pilot in the Isle of Wight will offer girls from age 13 years up emergency contraception via community pharmacies.

A paper just published in the British Journal of Psychiatry suggests that military personnel serving in Iraq had lower rates of mental distress than people in other 'high stress' jobs, such as UK police.
Another paper in the same journal highlights the link between exercise at leisure, and reduced rates of depression. I failed to go for my usual walk today - oops.

Deep in the data: And poor old Emperor

2010-10-26T18:16:00.000+01:00

Today I have been deeply immersed in some data - one of the luxuries that comes from being on sabbatical. Had to emerge periodically to send out information about our motivational interviewing courses, and will be making an uncharacteristic visit to campus tomorrow to prepare course materials.

Have noticed a couple of rather sad animal stories on the web today:
1. Paul the psychic octopus has died - seemingly from natural causes.
2. Someone with nothing better to do has shot the UK's biggest red deer stag, preventing it taking part in the imminent rut.

The BBC news article on this is an odd mixture of advertorial for stalker/shooting businesses, and melancholy reflection on human pointlessness....

(pic above isn't him)

Valiant efforts and fingers crossed

2010-10-25T13:48:00.000+01:00

Despite the earlier IT difficulties, and with the valiant support of my co-author, I have now been able to submit our paper to the chosen journal. Here's hoping that the editor thinks it's worth sending out for anonymous peer review.

Now to have lunch. Rumble rumble...

Not remotely connected

2010-10-25T13:43:00.000+01:00

Wasted entire morning trying to connect remotely to the university's IT systems, as required for any work I do at home on location independent working.

On my second attempt to call IT services helpdesk (first attempt 9 minutes on hold with no reply) I am told that the service has been out since 8.30 am. Would have been nice if the systems status board on the university website had mentioned this. I could have stopped wasting my time and planned a day on campus instead. Oh and there's no indication of when it will be back up again.
Cross cross cross...

Which tracks?

2010-10-21T22:56:00.000+01:00

Spent morning dealing with enquiries about our motivational interviewing courses. Delighted that some psychology colleagues will be joining us on the courses in October and November.

Rest of day updating various contacts in relation to my grand research plans.

Also confirmed which tracks I will be attending at the forthcoming Verity conference in November.

Pic: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Raccoon_tracks.jpg

Drafting and crunching

2010-10-20T21:49:00.001+01:00

Today:

I sent my bit of a paper off to a co-author for checking.

I started drafting a second.

I crunched a lot of data in an Excel spreadsheet.

Lots to say - and do

2010-10-19T18:19:00.000+01:00

Had a good meeting today with PhD student and another member of the supervisory team. Delighted with progress to date and planning a couple of preliminary empirical studies. Felicity is on course to have lots to say at her end of year Progress Review Panel, which is due early 2011.

Had a brief chat with my co-author about the PCOS paper that's nearly ready to submit. We also discussed a bit of research assistant work that's coming up - one related to Felicity's assistance dogs research and the other to ongoing work with Ryder Cheshire Volunteers.

Have also been looking at some data collected from our level two undergraduates, about their vocational identities and career aspirations.

And now it's ever so dark and I'm glad to be indoors...

Searching: Could it be you?

2010-10-18T17:23:00.001+01:00

Spent most of today tailoring a research paper to meet the specific publication requirements of my key target journal. Nearly there.

In the meantime, a call has come round the psychology department for an academic to talk to local media about the speculated lottery win that may have taken place in Coventry.

They would like someone to discuss the psychological impact of winning a huge sum of money, and the possible reasons why the winner of the recent Euromillions jackpot has not yet claimed it.

I was tempted to volunteer but (a) I have no particular expertise in this field and (b) I may well be tied up conducting a fingertip search of all the pavements and litter bins in Coventry... just in case.

pic: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/National_Lottery_play_here%2121_sign.jpg

Time for a trim

2010-10-15T21:33:00.001+01:00

Spent today responding to enquiries about the motivational interviewing courses, and then trying to be ruthless with a research paper I've written on my PCOS research.

It has a lot of qualitative data extracts in it, and I need to edit it from about 6,000 to 4,000 words. When I last looked at it I found it impossible to decide which women's words could be cut out. But if I want to have a chance of changing the way healthcare is offered in similar cases, I need to get at least part of the story published. A shorter paper that gets into print will have infinitely more impact than a longer 'richer' one that never sees the light of day.

Out with the metaphorical scissors I think.

Foraging

2010-10-14T17:07:00.000+01:00

Another slightly taxing but (hopefully) productive day, split between more detailed project planning and marketing activities.

The online shop links for our motivational interviewing courses went up yesterday, just around the end of the business day, so I am now able to take bookings.

Now before it gets dark I must go outdoors and fill up the bird feeders with nigella - there are some rather cross looking goldfinches swarming around the garden who will expect their breakfast long before I surface in the morning.

The Joy of GANTT

2010-10-13T17:02:00.000+01:00

(or trying to get a quart into a pint pot)

Have been wrestling with Gantt charts all day, trying to programme 4 years' worth of (perhaps rather ambitious) applied research work, for a grant application. While MS project is a very useful planning tool, it hasn't half made my head go boggle.

I think some therapeutic activity is in order. This evening I may try to make one of these (view A), from some of this:

Fabric credit: I think this came from cheap fabrics online, but I can't remember and think it is discontinued now :-(

Mapping out my hoped for future

2010-10-12T17:09:00.000+01:00

Have spent most of today mapping out plans for a long term programme of research, which I hope will grow out of my current three month research sabbatical. Have been in touch with NHS colleagues in the North of England to meet up and discuss collaboration. Unfortunately the exact plan is what, in these cash driven days is 'commercially sensitive', so I can't say more at present.

Meantime however, have also taken calls expressing interest in attending our next short course in motivational interviewing. Am slightly concerned that the links for booking places are still not up on the cu online shop. I have been assured that someone is working on it, but if you had hoped to book and can't see this link, please email me directly.

Coventry University
Introduction to Motivational Interviewing
Next course
Thursday 28th October 2010, The Graduate Centre, Coventry University

Trauma, resilience and future preparedness

2010-10-11T16:26:00.000+01:00

The inquests into the deaths of the 52 people killed in the July 2005 attacks on London's public transport system opened today.

I have been thinking about the applied research work that has been done to document and address the psychosocial impacts, and help with future emergency preparedness. I am particularly interested in (and inspired by) the resilience displayed by individuals, groups and organisations affected.

Work on the psychosocial impact

Bux, S. M., & Coyne, S. M. (2009). The effects of terrorism: The aftermath of the London terror attacks. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 39(12), 2936-2966. doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.2009.00556.x

Handley, R. V., Salkovskis, P. M., Scragg, P., & Ehlers, A. (2009). Clinically significant avoidance of public transport following the London bombings: Travel phobia or subthreshold posttraumatic stress disorder? Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 23(8), 1170-1176. doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2009.07.023

Misra, M., Greenberg, N., Hutchinson, C., Brain, A., & Glozier, N. (2009). Psychological impact upon London Ambulance Service of the 2005 bombings. Occupational Medicine, 59(6), 428-433. doi:10.1093/occmed/kqp100

Rubin, G. J., Brewin, C. R., Greenberg, N., Hughes, J. H., Simpson, J., & Wessely, S. (2007). Enduring consequences of terrorism: 7-month follow-up survey of reactions to the bombings in London on 7 July 2005. British Journal of Psychiatry, 190(APR.), 350-356. doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.106.029785

Rubin, G. J., Brewin, C. R., Greenberg, N., Simpson, J., & Wessely, S. (2005). Psychological and behavioural reactions to the bombings in London on 7 July 2005: Cross sectional survey of a representative sample of londoners. British Medical Journal, 331(7517), 606-611. doi:10.1136/bmj.38583.728484.3A

Whalley, M. G., Farmer, E., & Brewin, C. R. (2007). Pain flashbacks following the July 7th 2005 London bombings. Pain, 132(3), 332-336. doi:10.1016/j.pain.2007.08.011

Work on future preparedness

Bland, S. A., Lockey, D. J., Davies, G. E., & Kehoe, A. D. (2006). Military perspective on the civilian response to the London bombings July 2005. Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps., 152(1), 13-16.

Hughes, G. (2006). The London bombings of 7 July 2005: What is the main lesson? Emergency Medicine Journal, 23(9), 666. doi:10.1136/emj.2006.039586

Jacobs, L. M., & Burns, K. J. (2006). Terrorism preparedness: Web-based resource management and the TOPOFF 3 exercise. Journal of Trauma - Injury, Infection and Critical Care, 60(3), 566-571. doi:10.1097/01.ta.0000197379.40878.c7

Langdon, P., & Hosking, I. (2010). Inclusive wireless technology for emergency communications in the UK. International Journal of Emergency Management, 7(1), 47-58. doi:10.1504/IJEM.2010.032044

Lockey, D. J., MacKenzie, R., Redhead, J., Wise, D., Harris, T., Weaver, A., Hines, K., & Davies, G. E. (2005). London bombings July 2005: The immediate pre-hospital medical response. Resuscitation, 66(2) doi:10.1016/j.resuscitation.2005.07.005

Page, L., Rubin, J., Amlôt, R., Simpson, J., & Wessely, S. (2008). Are Londoners prepared for an emergency? A longitudinal study following the London bombings. Biosecurity and Bioterrorism, 6(4), 309-319. doi:10.1089/bsp.2008.0043

Shirley, P. J. (2006). Critical care delivery: The experience of a civilian terrorist attack. Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps., 152(1), 17-21.

Shirley, P. J., & Mandersloot, G. (2008). Clinical review: The role of the intensive care physician in mass casualty incidents: Planning, organisation, and leadership. Critical Care, 12(3) doi:10.1186/cc6876

Wilson, J., Murray, V., & Kettle, J. N. (2009). The July 2005 London bombings: Environmental monitoring, health risk assessment and lessons identified for major incident response. Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 66(10), 642-643. doi:10.1136/oem.2008.039933

Picture credit: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/7-7_Memorial.JPG

Thinking...

2010-10-07T12:08:00.000+01:00

After a yesterday making lots of phone calls and trying to set up meetings, in connection with continuing professional development courses, I have decided to have a day devoted to thinking and organising my ideas.

I think I'd have been rather surprised when I set out on an academic career to find that so little time would be available to sit and think deeply about things - but that's how it has turned out.

So today, instead of giving in to the tyranny of email and short term targets, I am going to really concentrate on what I want to achieve in my PCOS work for the next three years, so that I have a truly coherent set of plans to discuss with potential collaborators. I already have a long list of possibilities, so it's just a question of dreaming up the best possible outcome to aim for. Wish me luck...

Police officers sought for PhD research

2010-10-06T12:17:00.000+01:00

Forgot (again) to post blog entry yesterday so making amends by posting on behalf of someone else today:

My colleague Amy Grubb
Calling all police officers... I am still looking for participants for my phd! If you are an officer in any of these forces and haven't already taken part please let me know: West Midlands, West Mercia, Hampshire, Warwickshire, Devon and Cornwall, and Staffordshire...

Amy can be contacted be email using this link. Her profile can be seen on our departmental web page at
http://wwwm.coventry.ac.uk/HLS/psychology/staff/Pages/Meetthestaff.aspx

Jam tomorrow

2010-10-04T21:15:00.000+01:00

.
.

Progress to date on sabbatical objectives...? hmmm

Spent morning reading and commenting on a draft PhD thesis chapter. A fascinating area of research: the history and scope of animal based therapies.

Spent afternoon drafting some continuing professional development programmes around health behaviour change, for health professionals. Then in discussions about what professional bodies we should apply to for accreditation or endorsement of these.

May seem unrelated to my PCOS work, but coming up with externally funded courses like these, and marketing them successfully, is ultimately very important in creating time and funds for applied research activities. I am hoping that generating income towards our departmental targets will help me raise the funds I need personally to attend next year's Disaster Management conference. So I' hoping for jam tomorrow...

And I made a bid to supervise another PhD student this afternoon - hoping I am successful as the proposed project uses interpretative phenomenological analysis - one of my favourite research approaches.

I was also delighted to hear from someone running a specialist PCOS clinic, who'd attended my talk to the Endocrine Nurse Update last week. The very person I was hoping to catch up with over lunch but managed somehow to miss. Am hopeful that this will lead to a fruitful and mutually beneficial collaboration.

Picture credit: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Malnalekvar.jpg

Hourly paid teaching posts

2010-10-01T21:14:00.000+01:00

Can't believe I was still doing marking moderation today - at the end of the first week of sabbatical. I suppose it is inevitable that some teaching duties hang over into the beginning of the new term.

Also had a brief chat with the colleague who is covering my level tutor duties, about arrangements for returning students on Monday coming.

Our department has been able to offer some hourly paid teaching posts this year, to offer experience to aspiring new lecturers, and to free up colleagues to undertake applied research. There's an advert live at the moment, so if anyone's interested, please see the university website.

Whoopsie: double entry

2010-09-30T16:54:00.000+01:00

Forgot to write my blog yesterday: "quel dommage!"

But just to show that I wasn't actually just goofing off somewhere...

Met with Disaster Management colleague Fang yesterday to plan the first draft of our paper for the conference in Florida next year.

Have spent a lot of today reading details on various funding sites, including The British Academy, to whom I may be requesting help with conference travel costs.

Also spent time discussing marks with my co-assessor of MSc Health Psychology dissertation projects. Some great studies:

The experience of male breast cancer
Assessing shared decision making in healthcare consultations
The experience of women alcoholics
The psychological impact of eczema
Health information-seeking via the internet

We hope that some of our students will eventually submit their work for publication.

Psychosocial support needs in polycystic ovary syndrome

2010-09-28T22:30:00.000+01:00

Nice visit to Stratford upon Avon today to speak at the Endocrine Nurse Update about psychosocial support needs in polycystic ovary syndrome.

I also heard some presentations that got me thinking. While much of the biochemistry and physiology went over my head, I was struck by case presentations focused on endocrine cancers.

I thought I'd have a look at what work has been done on the psychosocial impact of these conditions (for example, multiple endocrine neoplasias), and indeed on supportive interventions. Although there have been calls for more work in this area, not much seems to have been published yet. Perhaps one for a student on our MSc Health Psychology to look at researching for a dissertation project...

Picture: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/Stratford_Armouries_Elephant.jpg

A life on the ocean wave!

2010-09-27T17:21:00.000+01:00

hmmm... Back after a few days holiday bobbing about in the Norfolk Broads. I know it's probably raining there now but it still seems kind of appealing.

It's freshers week here, which means the streets of Coventry are vibrant/crawling with bright young things (depending on your point of view).

I am feeling ever so slightly smug as my sabbatical has started, meaning I am somewhat remote from the frenetic activities that herald a new academic year.

I had a very fruitful meeting with PhD student today to discuss her plans for research on assistance dogs. We are thinking about possible publications already.

Photo credits: Rope by Richardsons of Stalham, cardigan and trousers (just seen) knitted by the late Mrs Nimmons, Blackrock Road, Randalstown; hat - model's own.

Misty eyed

2010-09-17T17:04:00.000+01:00

I have been working today - HONEST. More marking - had enough now. Just a few emails, etc. to deal with before it's time to put up the 'out of office' sign and then I'm officially on my hols.

Off to the misty autumnal Norfolk broads for a few days messing around in a boat.

Review and planning day

2010-09-16T20:13:00.000+01:00

Like most academic staff in the Psych Department, I was at the review and planning day today. This is our 'getting ready to launch' meeting in preparation for the start of the autumn term.

Although a lot of the discussion revolved around arrangements for taught students - how to welcome freshers, develop our students' employability, ensure the quality of the course, etc. - we also discussed our plans for applied research and the various targets that we've been set for bringing in external income.

As usual, it all seems rather daunting... But on the other hand, we are really starting to build up a head of steam as regards psychology applied research. Here are just a few of the publications authored by staff in 2010 - and the year isn't over yet!

Bowen, E. (2010). Therapeutic environment and outcomes in a U.K. domestic violence perpetrator program. Small Group Research, 41(2), 198-220. doi:10.1177/1046496409357081

Bowen, E., & Dixon, L. (2010). Concurrent and prospective associations between facial affect recognition accuracy and childhood antisocial behavior. Aggressive Behavior, 36(5), 305-314. doi:10.1002/ab.20357

Farrington-Flint, L., Canobi, K. H., Wood, C., & Faulkner, D. (2010). Children's patterns of reasoning about reading and addition concepts. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 28(2), 427-448. doi:10.1348/026151009X424222

Goodman, S., & Burke, S. (2010). 'Oh you don't want asylum seekers, oh you're just racist': A discursive analysis of discussions about whether it's racist to oppose asylum seeking. Discourse and Society, 21(3), 325-340. doi:10.1177/0957926509360743

Grubb, A. (2010). Modern day hostage (crisis) negotiation: The evolution of an art form within the policing arena. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 15(5), 341-348. doi:10.1016/j.avb.2010.06.002

Holliman, A. J., Wood, C., & Sheehy, K. (2010). Does speech rhythm sensitivity predict children's reading ability 1 year later? Journal of Educational Psychology, 102(2), 356-366. doi:10.1037/a0018049

Holliman, A. J., Wood, C., & Sheehy, K. (2010). The contribution of sensitivity to speech rhythm and non-speech rhythm to early reading development. Educational Psychology, 30(3), 247-267. doi:10.1080/01443410903560922

Sage, L., & Kavussanu, M.(2010). Moral identity and social goals predict eudaimonia in football. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2010.05.008

Taylor, L. M., Hume, I. R., & Welsh, N. (2010). Labelling and self-esteem: The impact of using specific vs. generic labels. Educational Psychology, 30(2), 191-202. doi:10.1080/01443410903494478

Wood, C., Pillinger, C., & Jackson, E. (2010). Understanding the nature and impact of young readers' literacy interactions with talking books and during adult reading support. Computers and Education, 54(1), 190-198. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2009.08.003

Different grades...

2010-09-15T21:26:00.000+01:00

Today I have mostly been:
Doing an awful lot of marking.

Our MSc Health Psychology students each submit a paper prepared for publication in a specified journal, based on the empirical study they did for their dissertation. Some interesting topics and high quality work - but marking them takes ages. Grading each one is effectively the same as completing a peer review for a journal. Each is marked by the original supervisor and independently marked by another memeber of the course team.

The process hasn't been helped by having to be blind second marker on a resit undergraduate project which was three times the specified length! Needless to say this did not endear it to me.

Picture credit: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Different_grades_of_maple_syrup.jpg

Being helped - and feeling guilty?

2010-09-14T21:36:00.000+01:00

Had some really helpful emails from staff at RefWorks and library at Coventry, helping me manage while the Shibboleth link is fixed - including an intriguing 'backdoor' route into my database. Reassuring to know that my references haven't disappeared forever and the normal link should be up and running soon. Very impressed by the service.

The process of shedding various teaching and administrative duties seems to have started in earnest. I have been informed who is taking over from me as level 3 year tutor while I'm on sabbatical, and also who will be covering my first term modules in Health & Lifestyle Management. Feeling slightly guilty as I know that sinking feeling near the start of the academic year, when you get asked to take on additional duties. Expect I'll get over it though...

Picture credit: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sheep_at_Beinisv%C3%B8r%C3%B0.jpg

"As a new user to the service..."Oh no I'm not!!!!!

2010-09-13T17:27:00.000+01:00

You know how I'd almost finished my presentation for the Endocrine Nurse Update...

Just needed to do the reference list. About to do it this morning when disaster* struck.

I've got in excess of 20,000 references in my RefWorks database - going back to student days in mid 1990's. When I used EndNote, I always had a back up copy of the database, but now the University has ceased to support EndNote and switched to RefWorks, I don't have that facility. On logging in this morning I was greeted as a new user (with no references) and invited to CREATE my database. Horror...

I have been assured that RefWorks know about the problem, which appears to be affecting all Coventry University users. I just hope they get it sorted out soon.

On a less frustrating note: did a telephone interview with a journalist today, about the work Glenn Furnell and I presented about the experience of Midlanders whose homes were flash flooded. Have also seen three very interesting papers that have been published in the interim:

Carroll et al 2009 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18996730

Carroll et al 2010 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20618385

Mason et al 2010 http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a918846798~db=all~jumptype=rss

*I realise of course that the meaning of this word is somewhat context-specific ;-)

Almost but not quite...

2010-09-08T17:35:00.000+01:00

Half of today spent reviewing an application for funding to the National Institute for Health Research "Research for Patient Benefit" scheme. Very time consuming, but a good refresher given that it's the same scheme I hope to be applying to myself at the end of my forthcoming research sabbatical.

Also ALMOST finished my presentation for the Endocrine Nurse Update later this month.

Degree redesign, "assistancedogblog" and motivational interviewing

2010-09-07T16:45:00.000+01:00

Typical mishmash academic day today...

Degree review meeting again - to discuss the principles that will underpin the redesign of our undergraduate psychology programmes.

Also had my first look at the blog our PhD student Felicity has started to record progress on her research study on the psychosocial impact of assistance dogs.

Finally confirmed some dates for our next Introduction to Motivational Interviewing courses, which will soon be bookable via the Coventry University online store:

Thursday 30th September 2010

Thursday 28th October 2010

Image courtesy of wiki commons: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LiquoriceAllsorts2003.jpg

Back to more mundane things

2010-09-06T22:23:00.000+01:00

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Here_comes_rain_again.jpg

Back from Eastern Europe to a very wet and miserable West Midlands. Not the most exciting of days, but an interesting item in Nursing Times which has been drawn to my attention:

Motivational interviewing 2: how to apply this approach in general nursing practice

Must remember to cite this when talking to Endocrine Nurses later this month - and follow up on room bookings for our next Motivational Interviewing training day.

Cluj-Napoca Final Day

2010-09-04T12:52:00.000+01:00

Last day of the conference today.

Another great keynote: Michael Murray began with a story about his last trip to Romania, (in the early 1970's) in which he and his 'hippy' companions were swiftly escorted back over the border by the army.

He went on to take us on a brief critical tour of health psychology's past, before making suggestions for future developments.

We also had the closing ceremony with lots of thanks and roses, plus a trailer for next year's conference in Crete.

I was fortunate to be awarded a poster prize for my work on PCOS - so even I got a flower to take home on the plane :-)

Now to see if there's enough space left in my suitcase to permit another trip to that great fabric shop on Bulevardal Eroilor...

Cluj-Napoca Day 4

2010-09-03T17:38:00.000+01:00

OK - getting a bit tired now - standing by a poster for an hour at a time is quite wearing on the feet. You can probably tell this by the look on my face in today's picture.

The paper that made the greatest impression on me today was the Keynote, by Prof. Mircea Miclea, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

Prof Miclea discussed in detail the Computer Mediated Psychotherapy intervention that he and colleagues have developed: paxonline. What makes it distinctive is that it is multi-user platform, creating a community of learning that includes patients, family physicians and psychotherapists. It also offers a stepped care intervention, designed to meet patients' needs at the point of initial help-seeking, rather than assuming that all people with mental health problems will want to, or be able to access face to face psychotherapy.

Although it's in Romanian, and won't go online until later this month, I think I'll have a look and run it through Google Translate.

Cluj-Napoca Day 3

2010-09-02T17:16:00.000+01:00

Met an old friend today from way back (postgraduate days at Queen’s, Belfast). Brendan was giving a talk in the 9 am slot “Thinking critically about men’s health promotion”. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to make it to that session, but hoping to catch up with him at some point during the conference.

The most interesting presentation I attended today was a paper by Maria del Rio Carral, from the Research Centre on Health Psychology, University of Lausanne. Maria described her PhD research, using a novel “activity focused” methodology. She and her colleagues are attempting to develop context-rich models of subjective wellbeing, based on the mundane daily activities people engage in. Definitely want to take this one further by reading their publications.

I also presented one of my posters today:

Percy, C., Gibbs, T., Potter, L. & Boardman, S. (2010) Role of a support group for women with polycystic ovary syndrome. I’m the rather pink and windswept one in today’s picture.

Cluj-Napoca Day 2

2010-09-01T19:35:00.000+01:00

Conference proper started today, with a provocative keynote from Michelle Fine from the Graduate Centre, City University of New York. Taking the conference theme "Health in Context" seriously, Prof. Fine talked about her work in participatory action research, and the commitments that underpin her approach.

She cautioned us of the dangers that (psychological) science is being recruited for a particular kind of nation building - one that increases the gap between richest and poorest. She argued that 'circuits of dispossession' need to be recognised and challenged by health psychologists' work, and gave us some homework to do:

Both Spain and France report social problems and deprivation among Roma people living on their soil. France has 'repatriated' dozens of Roma , and intends to continue - citing crime statistics as a justification. Spain has invested significantly to include Roma and address inequalities. Prof Fine suggests we treat this as a natural experiment. Let's all see how these divergent responses translate in to social and health outcomes in the years to come.

Cluj-Napoca Day 1

2010-08-31T18:53:00.000+01:00

hmmm... it's a quarter to nine here, so it must be ... quarter to seven there (UK) - I think.

Arrived in Cluj-Napoca today and been on a brief reccy of local area. Turns out I am staying in hotel right next door to the University's Psychology Department - home from home.

But I want a nice cup of tea!

Sunshine on a rainy day...

2010-08-27T15:06:00.000+01:00

wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sunshine_fractal.png

Submitted our grant application today - now need to wait twelve weeks or so to hear if we get through to the next stage of the competition...

Also booked a few more dates for our motivational interviewing training.

And the sun has come out - finally.

Bit of progress

2010-08-26T20:42:00.000+01:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1_RON.jpg

Picked up my Romanian lei today in preparation for next week's trip to Cluj-Napoca for the
24th European Health Psychology Conference, 1-4 September. At least as important, picked up my second poster from the printers.

Hoping to meet some hospital staff in Bulgaria the following week, to talk about motivational interviewing interventions for health behaviour change - but still awaiting confirmation on that front...

Meanwhile, just had a paper accepted for a conference next spring on disaster management - good job I have a 3 month sabbatical coming up...

Lacking inspiration

2010-08-25T16:24:00.000+01:00

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Candy_mosaic.jpg

My husband said this isn't as boring as it sounds to me, so here goes:
Degree review meeting this morning to discuss the latest iteration of our BSc Hons Psychology, Psychology & Criminology and Sports Psychology Programmes. We update these regularly (it seems to have been three or four times since I started here in 2003), but the latest effort is to fit with a new semesterised system the university is introducing from next academic year. We are looking to further enhance our students' employability, and 'internationalise' more, so time to throw all the course elements in the air again and see where they land this time.

Also, moderation meetings to agree marks for a Graduate Diploma dissertation, and some resit social psychology exams.

Perhaps I need to eat more e-numbers to make life more stimulating...

"Moving beyond measurement"

2010-08-24T16:53:00.000+01:00

A NUTHER day on clearing hotline - we still get candidates calling us with good A' level grades - shows how difficult it has been for all concerned this year...
As it is a *little* bit quieter today have had my laptop and been able to do one or two other things, including finding out about a very interesting initiative from Picker Institute Europe. Health psychologists and other health professionals seem to spend more time than they used to measuring aspects of patient experience. While this is certainly valuable work, I am especially interested in how understanding patients' experiences can be used to improve overall outcomes:

"Moving beyond Measurement
Picker Institute Europe’s new Quality Improvement programme - Moving beyond Measurement - offers dedicated and practical support in turning your patient and staff experience surveys into sustainable improvements."